{"id":135,"date":"2011-08-13T06:33:27","date_gmt":"2011-08-13T06:33:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/andbirds.org\/sc\/?p=135"},"modified":"2011-08-13T06:33:27","modified_gmt":"2011-08-13T06:33:27","slug":"a-girl-likes-to-be-crossed-in-love-now-and-then","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/andbirds.org\/sc\/?p=135","title":{"rendered":"A girl likes to be crossed in love now and then."},"content":{"rendered":"

Crossed in Love<\/em><\/strong> by catie56<\/p>\n

Imagine if, instead of pining away at the Gardiners’ until Elizabeth returns from Kent, Jane decided to make her own way to Kent and spend the rest of Elizabeth’s holiday with her? This, kittens, is where our story begins.<\/p>\n

Why you should read it:<\/strong> You’re a fan of well-written stories. You like Jane Bennet and want to read more of her. You don’t like Jane Bennet but are willing to be persuaded. Because Oofy says so!<\/p>\n

Why you might not like it:<\/strong> I really can’t imagine. You only enjoy stories with multiple sex scenes? You didn’t like Pride and Prejudice<\/em> at all?<\/p>\n

Regency<\/strong>, Plot Departure<\/strong>, General<\/strong>, at Archive of Our Own<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Darlings, I haven’t much to say about this story because although it’s wonderful and I love it to death, saying too much will spoil it for you! Allow me to tell you in absolute secrecy, though, that I never really liked Jane Bennet until I read this.<\/p>\n

Crossed in Love<\/em> splits off from canon after everyone’s favourite Bingley sister returns Jane’s call in Gracechurch Street. Instead of remaining in London with her aunt and uncle, Jane decides to travel to Kent to spend the remainder of her holiday with Elizabeth. The resulting alterations to the story are subtle but profound.<\/p>\n

Firstly, Jane does not fall in love with Colonel Fitzwilliam! So if that is your bag, baby, then I’m afraid you’ll need to shop somewhere else. However, Elizabeth does reveal to Jane what she’s learned from the good Colonel regarding the separation of Bingley and the roles of the individual parties responsible. She is most seriously displeased.<\/p>\n

One of the refreshing aspects of this story is that Elizabeth is not all sweetness and light. Here we see her so consumed with anger and resentment towards Darcy that she’s completely unable to comfort her sister. In fact it is Jane who comforts her<\/em> and makes her excuses so that she can remain in bed with a headache. I find this very much in character. Although I like Elizabeth as much as I ought, as a reader I am not unaware of her flaws. Her repulsed fascination with Darcy has a tendency to overwhelm not only her good sense but also her awareness of others.<\/p>\n

The “proposal” scene in the parsonage thus occurs between Mr Darcy and Jane Bennet. (No, he doesn’t propose to her<\/em>. Good heavens, I didn’t say this was an AU!) catie56 incorporates some of Austen’s own words in her story, but none to more interesting effect than in this scene. By the end of Chapter 2 I was firmly on Team Jane. I may have cheered, even.<\/p>\n

In Crossed in Love<\/em>, catie56 teases out the threads of personality of a character who is really only a narrative device for Austen. It is an exceedingly well done, engaging and realistic treatment. By the end of the story, my estimation of Jane Bennet had grown immensely. And even Bingley redeems himself somewhat to me.<\/p>\n

The story is not entirely without errors, but it really only requires a good proofread. There is a vagueness of description surrounding the events in the middle of the novel that gets a bit muddled, and some of the more sprawling sentences need a bit of pruning. But it’s well-paced, the dialogue and description are excellent, and it is exactly as long as it should be, no more.<\/p>\n

Read it. And if you don’t like it, well, I shall think you a simpleton.<\/p>\n

\"5<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Crossed in Love by catie56 Imagine if, instead of pining away at the Gardiners’ until Elizabeth returns from Kent, Jane decided to make her own way to Kent and spend the rest of Elizabeth’s holiday with her? This, kittens, is where our story begins. Why you should read it: You’re a fan of well-written stories….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[89,14,38,50,48,49,46],"class_list":["post-135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-oofy-prosser","tag-author-catie56","tag-era-regency","tag-length-short-story","tag-quills-five","tag-rating-general","tag-source-pride-and-prejudice","tag-type-plot-departure"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/andbirds.org\/sc\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/andbirds.org\/sc\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/andbirds.org\/sc\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andbirds.org\/sc\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andbirds.org\/sc\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=135"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/andbirds.org\/sc\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/andbirds.org\/sc\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andbirds.org\/sc\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andbirds.org\/sc\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}